Fluorescent tubes are widely used in a variety of locations, such as schools and office buildings. Although conventional fluorescent tubes have certain advantages over, for example, incandescent lights, they also pose certain disadvantages including, inter alia, disposal problems due to the presence of toxic materials within the glass tube.
Tube shaped LED lights which can be used as one-for-one replacements for fluorescent tubes have appeared in recent years. Many LED-based lights shaped to replace fluorescent tubes are constrained by the directional light output of their LEDs, in contrast to the uniform non-directional light output of fluorescent tubes.